The Zamfara State Police Command on Monday said its operatives killed one bandit during a gun duel in Saran Gamawa and Unguwar Mata villages of Gummi Local Government Area of the state.
In a statement obtained by Channels Television, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mohammed Shehu, said other bandits fled to the forest.
He said Police Tactical Operatives deployed along Gummi/Bukkuyum axis received a distress call on Sunday that armed bandits on motorcycles invaded the villages with the intent to kill and abduct members of the communities.
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“The police in collaboration with the vigilante of the affected villages mobilised forces and engaged the bandits in an extensive gun battle that lasted for hours,” the statement partly read.
“As a result, one of the bandits was fatally injured, an AK-47 rifle belonging to the bandits was recovered at the scene, while many others retreated to the forest with possible various degrees of gunshot wounds.”
In his reaction to the incident, the Commissioner of Police, Ayuba Elkanah, commended the resilience of the joint operatives.
He equally charged them not to relent in the Command’s effort to safeguard the lives and property of innocent people in the state.
The Police Commissioner also directed the Area Commander of Anka and the neighbouring Divisional Police Officers to “deploy reinforcement teams to complement the ongoing confidence-building patrol aimed to avert further attack on nearby communities and also to rescue the two kidnapped victims already abducted by the assailants before Police arrival”.
This is even as the Police Command reiterated its commitment to the protection of lives and property in the state, calling on members of the public to cooperate with security agencies in the ongoing effort to rid the state of bandits and other criminal elements.
